M2

China is one of the best cases. The US has normal trading relations w/ a communist regime which has threatened Taiwan and Japan on numerous occassions. China's human rights record is appalling. The CCP has probably indirectly killed more Chinese w/ their policies of a one-child, jail punishments for opium, hard labor punishments, and failed plans like the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution.

I actually think that the US is sometimes too tough w/ China, esp. when it comes to trade. However, China could seriously attack Taiwan if Chen Shui Bien keeps provoking them, in which case, the US has promised to protect Taiwan.

To get more on the topic of this thread, check out the latest Drudge headline:"Newsroom conservatives are a rare breed:In national news outlets, only 7 percent of journalists call themselves conservative. Does that deepen a trust gap?"http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0603/p02s01-usgn.html

That may be true, Jer, but the newsroom bias doesn't always go into effect. Most people would consider NPR a liberal network, but it turns out that on their political stories, they have bias of over 60% conservative sources. Biases go both ways.

I'm sure there are techniques used in Latin American countries..but what does that have to do with "5,000" people that the CIA told Saddaam to kill?

Jeremy, it's the same technique. The CIA in Operation Condor gathered the list of names for the Latin American countries and passed it on. Even though person X would be wanted in Argentina since his brother's wife's uncle was a suspected liberal or anti-American, person X could be detained in Chile, Brasil, Bolivia, you name it, without having commited a single crime. Sure the Latin American gov'ts were trying to track these ppl, but really it was the CIA who did most of the work.

The same is going on today in Iraq, Aghanistan, and Pakistan. Most of the ppl detained are detained just because they breathed.

btw, Operation Northwoods was signed off by Sec. of Defense McNamara, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Lemnitzer, and Pres Kennedy. Kennedy later went soft and backed out and preferred the Bay of Pigs approach instead.